Chris Weidman Admires Anderson Silva, but Still Plans to Take His Belt at UFC 162

UFC middleweight contender Chris Weidman faces his toughest challenge to date when he takes on champion Anderson Silva at UFC 162 on July 6 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.

The undefeated Weidman (9-0) earned his title shot by defeating Mark Munoz by knockout in his last outing.

Following the Knockout of the Night victory over Munoz, Silva was reluctant to accept a fight with Weidman citing the 29-year-old’s lack of name value. Although frustrating at the time, Weidman is happy the match-up finally came to fruition.

“Right after the Munoz fight it was frustrating to hear that they weren’t interested in me, but it is what it is. I guess when the UFC decided to make the fight happen, it happened. Everything happens for a reason. God had a plan and it worked out,” said Weidman on a UFC 162 media conference call.

“I’m real excited for the fight, so I’m not really thinking back to the past and worrying about how frustrated I was. I kind of gave up on that and things kind of worked out well, so I’m happy,” he added.

Weidman beefed up his training camp in preparation for the biggest fight of his career by bringing in kickboxers and boxers to mimic Silva’s style.

“We brought in a couple of different guys for the first time in my career. I’d say the main guy that did a great job emulating him in the stand-up the best he could was Stephen ‘Wonderboy’ Thompson. He’s a little smaller, but he has unorthodox striking. It was definitely good preparation for this fight,” said the middleweight challenger.

“I had a bunch of really good kickboxers that were living in New York City that we used. We used a couple of top national champion boxers for the stand-up. At Renzo Gracie’s academy we have a lot of good jiu-jitsu guys to emulate the best they could some of the stuff that Anderson does on the ground too. I think we did it the best we could with this camp preparing for Anderson.”

Silva has been nearly flawless in his performances in the UFC outside of the first round with Dan Henderson at UFC 82 and his first fight with Chael Sonnen. Sonnen was able to consistently put Silva on his back and control him for the better part of their five-round championship bout at UFC 117.

Silva defeated Sonnen by submission in the final round after losing the opening four rounds of the fight. What Henderson and Sonnen brought to the table that presented problems for Silva was their wrestling. Weidman has a similar style.

Weidman believes he’ll be able to employ a similar strategy to what Sonnen utilized in his first meeting with Silva.

“The obvious answer is the takedowns, trying to expose him with the wrestling. But we’re totally different fighters,” said Weidman about Silva’s first fight with Sonnen.

Sonnen didn’t exactly provide Weidman with a blueprint to defeat Silva, but the New Yorker feels he learned from Sonnen’s success against the champion.

“I believed I could beat him before that fight. He stays relaxed. If you’re all tense and he’s relaxed, eventually he’s going to be able to get off what he wants. I think the main thing I learned from that is I thought Chael was a little bit too uptight and tense when he got the takedowns, and I think it paid off for Anderson to stay relaxed the whole entire fight because he was able to have the energy to lock that triangle in the fifth round,” said Weidman. “All props to Anderson on that.”

Unlike with Sonnen, there’s no animosity between Silva and Weidman. In fact, Weidman admires Silva and considers himself a fan.

“I’ve been definitely a big fan of Anderson’s. Since I got in the sport he’s been the champion, so he’s a guy that I’ve been keeping my eye on since day one. Just like anybody else, you’ve got to love the guy a lot, watching the guy fight. He’s relaxed out there and he’s done things that no one has done in the sport. It’s always a pleasure to watch and I definitely admire him.”

For the better part of their fight? How about for 4.7 out of 5 rounds of their fight? I’m fairly sure Sonnen had 2 10-8 rounds in that one, and another 10-8 round their second fight. Look, if it weren’t for that spinning back fist attempt, Sonnen probably would have lasted another round or so, then got KO’ed. But regardless, you have to admit, no one, not even Hendo, was able to do so much to Anderson than Chael P Sonnen did.

Fern

Chael “Pea brain” Sonnen was pumped on roids and fought a Silva with broken ribs. It was completely obvious how much pain Anderson was in. The real matchup came through in their second fight. Chael never had the game plan. He had steroids and luck on his side and still couldn’t win. But he never had the skill or the blue print. Sorry

Ian Price

Sorry, but you’re leaving out something. Not one time did Chael hit Anderson in his broken rib. I researched the fight last year and counted a total of ZERO times that Anderson was hit in his broken or bruised rib. Also, how does a bruised rib affect standup? Chael looked pretty damn sharp in his standup, as he also did against Bisping.

Jack Package

Have you ever tried to do ANYTHING with a broken rib? Obviously not, or you wouldn’t be asking such a ludicrous question. I guess that’s what to expect from a Chael Sonnen fan.

Ian Price

I know your question was rhetorical, but I’m turning it into a regular one. Yes, I have, and it hurts to do physical things with a broken rib. But I can still do things. I’ve trained BJJ with a messed up rib, and I just do the best I can. But I am a sissy and Anderson can take a lot more punishment than I can.

Next, Anderson didn’t just break or otherwise injure his rib the day prior. It was a few weeks before.

Finally, we don’t even know if it was a break, bruise or a dislocation? Have you examined the doctor’s notes

Ian Price

And if he was in so much pain, why did he take the fight? He has canceled fights due to injury before, so it must not have been so serious(??)

And if he was in so much pain during the fight and it hurt to move, then how the hell did he lock in a triangle armbar when we all know it takes a great deal of obliques work to do that. And the obliques are intimately connected to your…. You guessed it, champion…. Your RIBS.

Hey I’m and Alchemist

Having also trained BJJ (Purple belt under Carlson Gracie Jr) The triangle choke Silva hit Sonnen with in their first fight was all hips and legs. He may have had to use some obliques to start the move but if you’ve seen any of Sonnen’s fights he’s not exactly hard to triangle. Also fighting and sparring with a broken or even injured rib makes it damn near impossible to defend the takedown. I’m not defending A.S.’s claim on the rib injury’s legitimacy. There are only a few people who know for certain if it was a real excuse or not. However his gameplan was to submit Sonnen(injured rib or not) in that fight. In his movie “Like Water” he tells Minotauro Nogueria during his training camp that he plans on submitting Chael due to the thing he said about the Nogueria’s black belt legitimacy. Which would also explain why he wore a BJJ gi during his entrance.

toom

have you ever wrestled day in your life it’s about 1000x harder to defend a takedown.

Hey I’m and Alchemist

That’s what I’m talking about.

Baller31

Silva had no rib injury. That is just an unsubstantiated rumor used by his camp to explain him getting his ass handed to him for most of the fight. Same thing happened first round in the second fight….was it his ribs again? Was Chael juiced? Excuses are just that. If you’re going to make lame excuses, don’t fight.

Hey I’m and Alchemist

Are you Anderson’s primary physician? I mean you would have to be to know there was no injury. Be careful because there is something called hipaa that makes it illegal for a licensed physician to disclose any patient confidentiality. Have a good day Dr. Baller31.

Baller31

Really? There is also medical clearance needed to fight. All fighters have to be examined by a dr. BEFORE they fight. It’s the law. Do your research.

Hey I’m and Alchemist

There have been plenty of fighters cleared to fight with injuries. Look at Shogun for example if he wasn’t consistently cleared to fight while injured you would never see him again. His pre-existing injuries have resulted in some unnecessary losses IE: the first Forrest Griffin fight. It’s not a problem to get cleared to fight with a minor injury. It’s during that fight when your minor injury is ultimately made worse that the problem occurs.

Baller31

All fighters have minor issues. If he had a cracked rib he would not have been cleared. If he had just some minor bruising it should not have even been brought up. Gday Mr. Alchemist

MuayThaiFood

No excuses or TRT needed for Anderson. He won both fights not by scorecards but by finish. That’s all you need to remember.

Baller31

You’re off topic. He was making excuses for Silva getting dominated majority of rounds. I don’t dispute that Sonnen lost.

toom

Pretty enjoyable comment

DB612

U really need to get your facts STRAIGHT. Check the OFFICIAL injury report for 117. Anderson received a medical suspension for his ribs. STOP hating…good try though!

Smh… Go watch “Like Water” his documentary and then try and tell me that he wasn’t hurt PRIOR to the fight.

Baller31

Was he also hurt the second fight when he got taken down and dominated the first round, very remniscent of the first fight? Look, he won both fights, and is obviously a better fighter than Sonnen, but I don’t think his first performance was hampered by injury.

DB612

No, he got taken down because he recklessly came right at Chael as soon as the bell rang. Dominated? He didn’t take ANY damage in Rd1. And round 2 he defended MULTIPLE td attempts. Try rewatching 117. He didn’t even try to defend the td attempts because he couldn’t. I was was sitting in the 3rd row. You could see how much pain he was in after that first round.

Drake Rhodes

There actually was a rib injury. There is a phone call before the fight of anderson talking to Ed. S about it.

Mark McDowall

Your forgetting one VERY important fact about that fight. Sonnen didn’t leave with the belt…so what he did during the fight doesn’t mean a damn thing without a win. Everyone who keeps beating the “sonnen won 4.5 rounds of that fight” need to give it up…

kadyn KillClan

Chris already beat the next Anderson so why can’t he beat the real Anderson

Mark McDowall

Is that supposed to be a real argument?

Lucas Freire

huh…who is the next Anderson?
Uriah Hall? lolololololololololololololol
comedy gold

kadyn KillClan

eggggggactly

Hey I’m and Alchemist

I wouldn’t say he had any 10-8 rounds. 10-8 rounds are scored a lot on damage received. Go back and rewatch the fight. Silva looked fresh at the end and Sonnen was all sorts of busted up.

Cptmats

Sry dude but Sonnen had at leat two ten eight rounds !
Damage has nothing to do with it, You can score zero damage and still get a ten eight round.
It about dominating ! If you dominated a fighter start of the round to finish even without score any damage (like Maia vs Fitch) you will get a ten eight round.

Baller31

agreed.

Lucas Freire

10-8 on their second fight?
I guess your favorite fighters are Fitch and Guida.

Oswald Cobblepott

We’ve all made plans on one hand and crapped in the other… Add Weidman to the list of victims. Anderson is undefeated in the UFC Weidman will not be the legend to take him out sorry

El Gvapo

Please tell us more. It sounds fascinating and I could really do with supplementing my income. I mean, anybody who makes that sort of cash every month is sure to tell everyone else how they do it and expect nothing in returm

Joe

spider 1st round rko no surprise

Joe

spider 1st round tko no surprise

Mo Ron King

So Gods a match maker now?well shiiiiiiiiit.

David Luu

Hype…hype…and more hype! I’m sure Weidman is a great fighter, with a 9-0 record is impressive. However, the consesus i see these days are that people are picking Weidman over Silva. WHAT?!?!?! Silva is a living legend with an octagon record that almost doubles Weidman. Don’t believe the hype! Silva KO 2nd round.